An Outbound Calling Compliance Checklist

Compliance is not a one-time task — it is a checklist you run before every campaign. The exact rules depend on where your recipients are, but the same building blocks appear almost everywhere. Use this list as a starting point with your legal adviser.

1. Consent

• Do you have the type of consent required for this kind of call (live agent, prerecorded, autodialed, to mobile numbers)?
• Can you show when and how each person gave consent?
• Is consent specific to your business, not a vague third-party agreement?

2. Do-not-call lists

• Is the list scrubbed against the national registry where one applies, within the required time frame?
• Is it scrubbed against your own internal do-not-call list?
• Are opt-out requests honoured quickly and shared across all your campaigns and numbers?

3. Calling hours

• Are calls limited to permitted hours in the recipient's local time zone?
• Are state, provincial or regional rules stricter than the national ones?

4. Caller identification

• Does the caller ID show a real number you own that people can call back?
• Do agents and recordings identify the business at the start of the call?
• Is your business verified with your provider?

5. Dialer settings

• Is the abandoned-call rate below the limit that applies, with a margin?
• Is a compliant message played on abandoned calls where required?
• Are retry and attempt limits set so people are not called too often?

6. Call recording

• Do you tell callers that calls may be recorded, where that is required?
• Are recordings stored securely and deleted according to your retention policy?

7. Records and training

• Do you keep consent records, opt-out logs and call logs for the period required?
• Have agents been trained on scripts, disclosures and how to handle opt-out requests?

Print this list, add the rules specific to your markets, and make it part of your campaign launch routine. A ten-minute review is far cheaper than a complaint.